A group of safari-goers recently witnessed how a mother wildebeest bravely fought a leopard to try and protect her injured calf in the Kruger National Park.
Nadav Ossendryver, the founder of Latest Sightings, and his friends had a front-row seat to this incredible interaction showing nature at work.
The group got a call from a ranger, telling them about the injured wildebeest calf and its mother. The nature and cause of its injury are unclear.
‘When we got there, the mother wildebeest was hanging around the calf and keeping guard on it. Vultures had started circling and landing near the scene. Next thing, we spotted the leopard walking toward the calf. As soon as the mother saw it, she gave charge! The leopard then ran right towards us and lay in the bushes,’ he said.
Not long after, a family of warthogs also came along and tried to attack the calf.
One warthog even punctured the calf with a tusk, giving them access to some meat. ‘The mother wildebeest thought she was done defending her calf from the leopard, but now she had to defend it from warthogs too!’ Ossendryver added.
Eventually, the leopard returned and went for the kill.
‘After waiting for a couple of hours, the leopard eventually saw an opening, when the mother wasn’t looking, and ran in to get the calf. The leopard walked closer to the road and started feeding. It was the inevitable end to this interaction,’ he concluded.
Take a look:
Video: Nadav Ossendryver
Picture: Latest Sightings/Shaun Estebeth
